CoShopper in talks to buy Letsbuyit.com

Who said the Swiss were boring?

Swiss outfit CoShopper.com today said it was keen to get its mitts on troubled rival Letsbuyit.com.

The company said it had started talks with debt-ridden Letsbuyit, which saw its management leave en mass earlier this month.

Marc Schlett, MD for CoShopper's German sector, outlined the advantages of buying the e-tailer: "Letsbuyit has a complete stock, qualified employees, good customer basis and above all, a high brand awareness," he told AFX, a financial newswire. It also, presumably, comes at a bargain-basement price.

CoShopper, which operates in around a dozen countries including the UK, Chile and Australia, is not the only prospective suitor courting Dutch-registered Letsbuyit.

This week Dealpartners.com, an unlisted French e-tailer, also said it was in talks to buy the company. Newly appointed Letsbuyit execs must be just about talked-out - they are also still discussing with administrators how best to salvage the business, which has not traded since before Christmas. ®